NatWest and Lloyds are to axe a further 81 bank branches as both announced fresh cuts to their high street networks. Lloyds Banking Group is closing 39 branches – 26 Lloyds Bank outlets, nine Halifax branches and four Bank of Scotland outlets – between July and September this year. NatWest Group said it was shutting 42 branches. The moves come days after it emerged that Barclays was closing 14 more outlets. Both Lloyds and NatWest argued that customer demand for traditional counter services was falling as more people used online and mobile banking. The consumer group Which? said on Thursday that UK banks and building societies had closed, or announced the closure of, 5,498 branches since January 2015, at a rate of about 54 each month. It said NatWest Group, which comprises NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, would have closed 1,257 branches by the end of 2023, “the most of any banking group”. In January this year, Lloyds announced the closure of 18 Halifax branches and 22 Lloyds sites. Last October, NatWest said it would be axing 43 branches during the first half of this year. And at the end of November, HSBC said it would be shutting a further 114 outlets between April and August this year. Lloyds said that as the use of digital banking had grown, the number of branch visits had fallen. Visits to he 39 branches being axed had fallen by an average of 59% – and some up to 69% – in the last five years. A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: “Our customers are increasingly using digital channels to manage their money – we now have over 20 million regular digital users, so it’s important we continue to develop the online services our customers want to use.” They added: “Our branches will continue to be an option for our customers, alongside our telephone services, mobile app and online bank.” All of the branch locations announced for closure have a post office and at least one free-to-use ATM nearby, said Lloyds. A NatWest spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility seriously to support the people who face challenges in moving online, so we are investing to provide them with support and alternatives that work for them.” Full list of Lloyds Banking Group closures: Lloyds Bank branches: Bretton, Peterborough Benton, Tyne and Wear Fulwell, London Woodlands, Doncaster Chapeltown, Sheffield Highbury Corner, London Carlton, Nottinghamshire Cambridge, Chesterton Road Shepton Mallet Hazel Grove, Stockport, Greater Manchester Holborn Circus, London Threadneedle Street, London Tumble, Carmarthenshire Eckington, Sheffield New Mills, Derbyshire Corringham, Essex Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire Bridge Street, Downham Market Shirebrook, Derbyshire Sidmouth, Devon Porthcawl, south Wales Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire Wellington, Somerset Newcastle upon Tyne, Newburn East Horsley, Surrey Ystradgynlais, Powys, Wales Halifax branches: Catford, London Emersons Green Retail Park, Bristol Denton, Greater Manchester Mirfield, West Yorkshire Tadcaster, North Yorkshire Otley, West Yorkshire Newton Aycliffe, County Durham Porthcawl, south Wales Newmarket, Suffolk Bank of Scotland branches: Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire Edinburgh Royal Mile Glasgow Pollokshields Cults, Aberdeen Full list of NatWest Group closures: Aldridge, West Midlands Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan Barbican, London Blandford, Dorset Queensway, Bletchley, Milton Keynes Bournemouth CastlePoint Shopping Centre Brighouse, West Yorkshire Brighton Castle Square Bristol Queen’s Road Christchurch, Dorset Croydon Whitgift Centre Deal, Kent Dean Street, London Dorking, Surrey Fakenham, Norfolk Fleet Street, London Fulwood, Lancashire Harold Hill, London Heald Green, Stockport, Greater Manchester Hertford Holderness Road, Hull Isleworth, London Knowle, Bristol Knutsford, Cheshire March, Cambridgeshire New England, Peterborough New Malden, London Roath, Cardiff Rothwell, West Yorkshire Runcorn, Cheshire Ryde, Isle of Wight South Croydon Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire Stratford Broadway, London New Street, Birmingham Tamworth, Staffordshire Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire Westbury on Trym, Bristol Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear Wymondham, Norfolk Johnstone, Scotland Tranent, Scotland